We had a full house, on Saturday night January 18 at the Rebetiko Evening at the Greek Community of Jerusalem. We had the honor of hosting the Athenian musicians soloist Lila Violetta Soussi on the piano, and Moissis Asser who sang for us and played the bouzouki. Moissis Asser was joined by our community’s Elias Messinas who sang with Moissis and played the guitar.
The event was opened by the President of the Greek Community of Jerusalem, Anastas Damianos, who in his greeting, thanked the audience for coming and myself for having the idea to host Lila and Moissis.
Being the weaver that I am, I can’t resist but suggest to musician family and friends to share their talents with our local Jerusalem community for the benefit and merriment of all! The community’s young families with children remember fondly Thanasis Kleopas’ performance on the ancient Lyra at our Christmas-tree-decoration-event a few weeks ago.
The hall of the Greek Community center was full of familiar and unfamiliar faces: Greeks, Israelis, Palestinians, Romanians, a blend of people and cultures as we here in Jerusalem deeply enjoy!
The music was a blend too, a journey from classical music played on the piano by Lila Soussi, from Chopin to Hatzidakis and a composition that Lila created especially for the Jerusalem audience titled “Trip to Jerusalem.”
The Greek Community Center on 8 Yehoshua Bin Nun Street is indeed a paradigm of Jerusalem’s diversity, multi culturalism and inter-connectedness. Jews, Christians and Moslems sat next to each other and enjoyed the program. Betty Klein a Jerusalemite musician who was among the public joined Moissis and Elias in the second half of the show, the Rebetiko part, by accompanying them on the piano.
In the midst of the evening a couple walked in that we were not familiar with. In his typical Greek hospitality Damianos went to the hall’s entrance to welcome them only to discover that the guests were none others than the Greek Minister of Tourism Harry Theocharis and his spouse Eroulla Constanti. The two had heard about the communal event, it later appeared, through the Consul General Christos Sofianopoulos.
Excited about the discovery, and clearly moved, Damianos paused the program to welcome our honorary guests before all the audience. In his olden Greek Damianos expressed the community’s delight in having the couple join one of our cultural events, one among many the community organizes.
The Minister responded with a warm welcome in English so that all present would understand and said how very moved he was to witness the community’s vitality. “You are the heart of Hellenism, ” Theocharis said in response to Damianos address. And to see that Greece in Jerusalem keeps “the torch of peace, stability and happiness, those values that spred from Greece and in these difficult times for the Middle East will prevail.”
It is heart warming when the community is visited by Greek officials, artists and intellectuals. We, the Greek Community of Jerusalem, cherish the opportunities to share our Greek culture with our fellow Jerusalemites, building bridges with the world and the peoples who surround us!
From Jerusalem with love,
Yvette Nahmia-Messinas